{"id":715,"date":"2023-06-27T21:47:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T01:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yesiweb.com\/info\/?p=715"},"modified":"2024-07-14T01:15:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T05:15:31","slug":"website-builders-vs-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yesiweb.com\/info\/website-builders-vs-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Builders vs. Self-Hosted WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/yesiweb.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/website-builders-vs-wordpress.jpg\" alt=\"Website Builders vs. Self-Hosted WordPress\" class=\"wp-image-720 lazyload\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/yesiweb.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/website-builders-vs-wordpress.jpg\" alt=\"Website Builders vs. Self-Hosted WordPress\" class=\"wp-image-720\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Somebody from a group of crafters asked me to compare the choices. If you wonder which option you should choose, this article is for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a web designer, I&#8217;ve worked with a number of site builders (WIX, Squarespace, Weebly, etc.) and self-hosted WordPress (do not confuse with wordpress.com \u2013 I wouldn&#8217;t recommend to anyone, unless they wanted nothing more than a blog.) I have no personal experience with Shopify or Square websites; I\u2019m sure they\u2019re very similar to other site builders, but I don&#8217;t know their terms, cost, etc. As far as I know, Shopify offers better features than Square, but also has a third-party transaction fee, making it more expensive, while Square is more suitable as a simple solution.<br><br>One important thing to note before we begin to compare \u2013 make sure you use your domain name. That means, buy something like mybusiness.com and attach it to your website; do not fall for free options that come with site builders. If your website&#8217;s URL is something like username.wixsite.com\/mybusiness, you will keep it for as long as you&#8217;re using that site builder. You cannot take it with you if you decide to switch the provider, and if you purchase your own domain name and start using it, you will lose the visitors and, what\u2019s even more important, you\u2019ll lose your SEO ranking \u2013 it goes by the website address (URL.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Incidentally, that means \u2013 if you want to use website builders, do not use free plans. They do not come with the URL option. You can try the free plan for a while, to play with the builder, but once you decide to be serious \u2013 get the URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don\u2019t see much difference between Squarespace and WIX. The options are slightly different, but that depends on what you need; the basic set should be the same. The designs are slightly different, but that\u2019s a matter of taste, and there no design available on one builder that cannot be replicated on another one. Squarespace offers more flexibility, but if you can use it, you don\u2019t need my input \u2013 that\u2019s mostly for those who know how to use programming languages. WIX is considered more user-friendly. Cost is pretty much the same, I think, unless one of them raised prices lately (more than the other, that is \u2013 all the prices went up significantly in the last few years.) But they\u2019re close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, site builders vs. WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ease of use.<\/strong> Site builders are easier; it\u2019s entirely possible for an amateur comfortable with computers to create a website. It\u2019s unlikely somebody will be able to create a WordPress website from scratch without some basic knowledge of how it\u2019s done. On the other hand, I\u2019ve had clients who hired me to create websites using site builders or adjusting the design of the existing websites they created but were unhappy with, so apparently, it\u2019s still not for everyone, and if you\u2019re only going to update the website, I don\u2019t think WIX is that much easier than WordPress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cost.<\/strong> It\u2019s a loaded subject.<ul><li><strong>Cost to create.<\/strong> If you create a website yourself, obviously, it doesn\u2019t cost you anything. If you hire a designer, it should cost you less to create a website on a site builder \u2013 at least, I charge less.<\/li><li><strong>Hosting cost.<\/strong> A *basic* WIX\/Squarespace website costs $16\/month if paid for a year \u2013 that\u2019s $182\/year. A WIX\/Squarespace website that has a store needs a business plan \u2013 $32\/month, $384\/year and a percentage of sales \u2013 honestly, don\u2019t remember how much. WIX usually runs a 50% off special for the first year, though not on the cheapest plan. A basic hosting plan for WordPress starts from $3-4\/month when paid for 3 years ($36-48\/year), but that\u2019s the discount and then the price goes up to something like $130-150\/year. Still, quite a difference. And basic hosting for WordPress means you can have one website \u2013 they don\u2019t care if you have a store, it won\u2019t cost you more. What might cost you more is a theme (design) if you want a premium theme for WordPress \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t go for more than $60-70, but there are good free ones \u2013 and additional features you might want. See next.<\/li><li><strong>Store flexibility\/cost.<\/strong> I haven\u2019t created a store using Squaresace, so I don\u2019t know what they allow. I was really unimpressed with the lack of options with WIX when I created a store. With WordPress \u2013 a good theme and WooCommerce are fairly customizable, besides, you can always add features. Unfortunately, a lot features that allow you to customize sales, cost money. (Surprise!) When I was building my hand-made website, I was curious how far I can go without additional payments. Far enough, it turns out. You can see for yourselves \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/claywithstyle.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">claywithstyle.com<\/a> A couple of times I run into something that would cost me \u2013 and decided I really can do without it. The thing is, I don\u2019t sell all that much, so I don\u2019t want to pay anything other than percentage of the sales \u2013 and domain name, obviously. I already have hosting, and the theme is free; I would redesign it now, making the home page less busy, but I can never find the time.<\/li><\/ul><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ownership.<\/strong> If you create a self-hosted WordPress website and you don\u2019t like the hosting, you can always move \u2013 there are lots of hosting providers. If you create a website on any one of the site-builders, you can\u2019t move it anywhere; it\u2019s a marriage for life. You can move the domain name, but if you want to build the website elsewhere, you\u2019ll need to start over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s all I could think of for now. I&#8217;ll probably think of more over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To summarize \u2013 it\u2019s really hard to give a definite answer which platform you should use. If you\u2019re going to build the website yourself \u2013 the initial saving might make up for more expensive platform, especially if you\u2019re not sure if you\u2019re going to use the website for more than a few years, want to try it out, so to speak; especially so if you\u2019re not going to have a store. If you\u2019re going to hire somebody to build you a website \u2013 I really don\u2019t see a benefit of using a site builder then. Well, maybe a small benefit \u2013 hiring a designer to build a website using a site builder should probably cost less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, keep in mind \u2013 neither site builders nor WordPress will sell your craft\/product\/service\/etc. for you. You&#8217;ll have to do it yourselves, no matter what platform you&#8217;re going to use. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Somebody from a group of crafters asked me to compare the choices. If you wonder which option you should choose, this article is for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-websites"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Website Builders vs. Self-Hosted WordPress - Custom Web Design and Development; Graphic Design<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WIX, Squarespace, and other website builders vs. self-hosted WordPress. 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